The 5 most embarrassing work from home moments,in no particular order (Drum roll, please!) –

The Video Camera is On… And you don’t know it. It’s happened to everyone and I don’t know about you, but it’s not exactly like I’m sitting at home with full hair and makeup. If I shower before noon, I count that as a victory. I had a colleague recently have her camera on during an entire all-hands, 2 hour conference call. Thank God she didn’t do anything too terrible but it was still pretty bad. Tip for the day – Put a piece of paper over the camera, if you haven’t already done so.

Dogs Barking, Leaf Blowers, Kids Crying… I have had all of these things happen… simultaneously. I have this @#$*# Pomeranian who, I swear, will be quiet for HOURS and then the SECOND I get on the phone, BARK, BARK, BARK. It’s incessant. I’ve had to literally pay my children to get him out of the house when I’m on a conference call. Recently, I had a leaf blower outside my window the whole time I was on a call with my very first client, while the dog was literally going nuts… Due to the leaf blower.

You Forgot to Turn Off Screen Sharing… OMG. I HATE this one as I’ve done it multiple times. The combination of the screen share and IMing is a recipe for disaster. We’ve all done it or seen it. The screen share is on and your IMing a colleague about what a loser your boss is. Then, your phone starts blowing up because everyone is texting you as they don’t want to show up in your IM window.

Big Brother Skype… You decide to blow the day off and head for the beach. And, you didn’t set your Skype notification to “in a meeting”. It’s shows you offline for the day… Of course, it is the day that your boss actually shows up and is looking for you.

You Think You’re on Mute… And you’re not. Your piece of the conference call is over so it’s time to do other things such as laundry, dishes, or, the best is vacuuming! (Which my friend actually did one day…) Or, you’re at a place where you shouldn’t be – ski slopes, baseball game, bar, etc.